More than 50 people attend meeting about proposed pipeline, express concerns about safety, aesthetics, access to clean energy

Jan. 17, 2013

Written by

Dorothy Pellett

Free Press correspondent

Vermont Gas Systems, Inc. personnel came to Hinesburg Wednesday evening to hear residents’ concerns about a proposed pipeline that would pass through the town on its way to Middlebury.

The pipeline would be part of the Addison Natural Gas Project to further the company’s goal of extending the supply of gas to International Paper in Ticonderoga, N.Y. and eventually to Rutland.

The plan includes 43 miles of 12-inch pipeline, including six miles in Hinesburg. Vermont Gas Systems filed an application for a Certificate of Public Good with the Vermont Public Service Board on Dec. 20.

Hinesburg Town Administrator Joe Colangelo and selectboard members had asked the firm to consider an alternate route instead of one that residents said would be too close to their homes on Baldwin Road and that would unduly disrupt their lives.

“We are open to pipeline re-routing. We have heard that the route will not work,” Vermont Gas Systems’ Director of Communications Stephen Wark told the more than 50 people who attended Wednesday’s hearing. “We want to learn how best to work with you going forward.”

Some attendees asked why all of the pipeline could not follow an existing Vermont Electric Power Co. (VELCO) corridor, a route that they considered better than digging on a quiet country road.

Resident Matt Baldwin said the current proposal on Baldwin Road right-of-way would place the line 10 feet from his house and 25 feet from his well. “You’re not doing it,” he said.

Baldwin said he had heard blasting would be needed.

Vermont Gas project engineer John Heintz explained that the type of blasting would use small charges, and mats would keep all dislodged material within a trench. “We do a pre-blast survey of people’s homes and the area within 60 feet and again afterward to document if there are any changes. We do seismic testing during blasting,” Heintz said.

Existing trees, the road’s ambiance and a clayplain forest in another portion of the route also garnered concern.

“We have heard many times that people in Hinesburg value our dirt roads, said Andrea Morgante. “I’m afraid the Public Service Board will be considering the state as a whole, not the people of Hinesburg. There is no reason for us to sacrifice any of our natural resources for the profit of the company.”

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Eileen Simollardes, Vermont Gas Systems vice-president for supply and regulatory affairs, said the Public Service Board must consider “a multitude of criteria” — how it affects the state and how it impacts the community. State law regulates the board’s procedure, and a citizen’s guide to its work is available at psb.vermont.gov.

Parts of the proposed pipeline are slated to follow a VELCO corridor, but archeological, environmental and practical issues could prevent it in other sections, Heintz said. Power lines generate current and give off an electromagnetic field that could interfere with the protection system for the gas pipe, he said.

The idea of using the VELCO right-of-way wasn’t acceptable to Mark Ames, who owns land with a VELCO line transversing it. “VELCO people came and removed my apple trees that I had been pruning and drove eight inches deep across my field,” Ames said. He said he did not want that to happen if another company also used the route. “I came here to find the answer to ‘how do we say no’,” he said.

The pipeline would be constructed of welded, high-strength steel designed to last at least 100 years, Heintz said. Inspections would be conducted throughout the process; each weld X-rayed; the line tested to 150 percent of its allowable pressure, and monitored 24 hours a day from the company’s office.

Not all residents took a stand against the pipeline.

Bill Schubart, who said he lives a half-mile from Baldwin Road and a quarter-mile from the VELCO line, urged people to think of Vermont as a community.

“We in Hinesburg have the benefit of the clean fuel because people north of us allowed it to go through. Towns to the south want that benefit.”

Vermont Gas installed a small distribution line in Hinesburg in 2009 for customers to access natural gas. The proposed transmission line would be larger and require more complex preparation.

Next steps in the process

On Monday, Vermont Gas representatives will meet with Colangelo and Phil Pouech, a Hinesburg Selectboard member who is serving as a liaison with the board and the pipeline proposal. Monkton residents will also have a voice, Wark said.

The group will review potential route changes. The next day Vermont Gas will meet with others from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers, leading to a revised submission to the Public Service Board.

Two people from the Vermont Department of Public Service were present at Wednesday’s hearing: Louise Porter, special counsel, and GC Morris, the department’s gas engineer.

Porter said they will speak for the town at Public Service Board meetings, and the department has hired an independent engineering firm to review the pipeline plans.

The Public Service Board will conduct a public hearing in Hinesburg at a later date.